The Chattanooga Housing Authority can go forward with phasing down and selling the Harriet Tubman Development site.

CHA announced Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has given the agency permission to abandon the public housing complex.

Current Harriet Tubman residents, who occupy 254 of the development's 440 units, are expected to have the choice of either moving to another CHA development or receiving a Section 8 voucher. They will get relocation notices starting sometime after the new year, CHA Executive Director Betsy McCright said in a news release.

Officials with CHA will help residents with the relocation process through individual and group meetings and through relocation funds, McCright said.

CHA is interested in selling Harriet Tubman, the second-largest public housing development in Chattanooga, because maintenance costs are too high, said Eddie Holmes, chairman of CHA's board.

"[Residents have] known that this day was coming," he said.

Holmes thinks there will be some interest in the property when it is put up for sale.

"We can't even afford to demolish," he said.

The relocation could take several months or up to a year to finish, McCright said.